This invention relates to military personnel-type parachute systems employing a dual manual ripcord and automatic power cable release system, and more particularly as to the manner of securing their respective housings to the exterior of the parachute container to avoid failure of the automatic power cable to initiate canopy deployment when the manual ripcord housing has been prematurely released.
Currently employed fall-away type military emergency egress parachute container assemblies use a single cable-type clamp that extends over the terminal ends of the housings of both an automatic parachute actuator power cable and a manual ripcord cable and clamps them to a conventional base plate sewn to the exterior of the parachute container.
In conventional parachutes of this type, the other end of manual ripcord housing is normally connected to the parachute harness, and the other end of the automatic cable housing is normally connected to the power actuator which is loosely supported within the parachute container. Therefore, to avoid injury to the parachutist by the trailing parachute container after canopy separation, it has been the custom to make the single prior art housing clamp releasable by a pin connected by a lanyard to a parachute harness riser strap. Unlatching the single clamp, therefore, automatically releases both the automatic power cable and manual ripcord housings simultaneously.
When such release occurs inadvertently or accidentally, it presents a serious problem in that it may prevent future operation of the automatic actuator cable to open the parachute at the designated time and altitude. This aborted condition can occur if the automatic power cable housing is not fixedly anchored to the base plate on the parachute container at the time of power initiation, as can be the situation when using the prior art clamp. Specifically, initiation of the automatic power parachute actuator, whether by pyrotechnic or mechanical device, can cause both the power ripcord cable and its housing to move together for the entire designed distance, i.e., 2 to 21/2 inch, and it is possible that such movement can occur without withdrawing the ripcord pins from their respective container locking cones. Obviously in such a situation, the parachute container and the enclosed canopy will remain in a closed and secured condition, and no automatic canopy deployment will occur.
One explanation for such a malfunctioning is that the power actuator is loosely supported in the parachute container, and if the power cable housing is accidentally released by the prior art clamp, both ends of the power cable housing are free to move. Thus, when the power actuator is activated to pull on the power ripcord cable, the housing is free to be pushed toward the locking cones, nullifying the movement of the ripcord and causing the ripcord locking pins to remain connected to their respective locking cones.